Denmead put Wessex League application on hold due to Front Lawn renovation work

The club are keen to follow in the recent footsteps of Infinity, Bush Hill (now Millbrook) and Fleetlands in making the step up from the Hampshire Premier League top flight.

They initially applied last season, but had to withdraw their interest due to the required work at the Hampshire FA owned Front Lawn facility in Leigh Park not being completed in time.

With the deadline for applying to the Wessex for the 2023/24 season approaching tomorrow, the necessary work still remains outstanding.

‘We’ve put the application on hold for a year,’ Denmead secretary Simon Strickland told The News. ‘It’s going to take us longer to get the required work done.’

Denmead need to create a second spectator area to bring Front Lawn up to the Wessex standard. At present, the only access is down one side of the pitch.

The obvious place to create that second area is behind the goal at the carpark end of the facility.

Denmead will also need to erect a covered area for spectators.

‘We need to open up a second area, that’s the biggest hurdle to get over as we’ll need planning permission,’ explained Strickland.

‘The covered area initially has to be standing, but we’ll look to do standing and seats in one hit - that’s not an issue.

‘We’ll also look to get a 10-year secured tenure, which will then allow us to access Football Foundation funding to go towards the costs.

‘In the meantime, we still want to try and finish as high as we can this season.’

Denmead were agonisingly close to winning the HPL Senior Division title at the first time of asking last season.

They would have finished above Colden Common on goal difference had they picked up a point in their final game. As it was, they crashed 5-1 at home to Stockbridge.

This season they are currently seventh, nine points adrift of leaders Andover New Street Swifts but with a game in hand.

On their return from a Christmas break, they host league rivals Winchester Castle on January 7 for a place in the quarter-finals of the Hampshire FA Trophy.

Denmead will fancy their chances, having already beaten Castle twice in the league this term - 7-3 at Front Lawn in August and 3-2 away on November 26, the last time Castle, bottom of the Senior Division, played in the league.

HPL top flight pair Locks Heath and Clanfield will also be looking to progress to the last eight when they travel to Yateley and Fawley Reserves respectively on January 7.

HPL second tier Meon Milton, meanwhile, host Eversley & California Reserves the same day for a place in the last 16, where they would host Hartley Wintney U23s.

That will be a first game in charge for Wayne Grant, who was appointed as Bic Singh’s replacement just before Christmas.